DELAWARE ART MUSEUM UNVEILS OUTDOOR SCULPTURES

WILMINGTON, DE

The Delaware Art Museum has installed three sculptures in the Copeland Sculpture Garden. They are Electroglide (1981) by David Stromeyer, Dream Stele (1988) by Bernie Felch, and Circle of Lines (2011) by Stan Smokler.

The conservation and reinstallation of Electroglide was made possible by the Museum Council and a grant from the Marmot Foundation. The Delaware Art Museum acquired Electroglide from the artist in 1983. The piece represents the artist’s ongoing interest in large-scale abstract, geometric sculptures that developed in the early 1960s. The renovation of the Museum’s building and campus from 2002 through 2005 necessitated the removal and storage of all outdoor sculptures. Because of its size and condition, Electroglide is the last piece to be returned to the Museum campus. Prior to its reinstallation, the piece received extensive conservation—including repainting—to guarantee its future stability.

“I am thrilled to have our visitors experience the new sculptures on view in our expanding Copeland Sculpture Garden, which is an extension of our Contemporary Art galleries,” says Margaret Winslow, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Delaware Art Museum. “Visitors can now view 16 large-scale sculptures dating from 1966 to 2011, and I encourage repeat visits to the Copeland Sculpture Garden to enjoy the beauty of art in nature. The Museum’s Copeland Sculpture Garden is open to the public year round from dawn until dusk. “

Two additional large-scale sculptures were recently added to the Museum’s collection. For the past 27 years, Dream Stele has been installed on the site of the Urban Environmental Center, now Urban Bike Project, in Wilmington. Constructed of 25 layers of eight oversized bricks, this sculpture was originally made for a 1988 national competition at Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park Horticulture Center. Dream Stele is an example of the artist’s carved brick forms and incorporates imagery inspired by Egyptian or ancient Near East iconography. Dream Stele will complement Felch’s site-specific installation In the Park (1986-87), on view in the front of the Museum.

Circle of Lines was donated to the Museum this year for inclusion in its Copeland Sculpture Garden. A regional sculptor who has taught at the Delaware College of Art and Design since 1998, Smokler most recently participated in the Delaware Art Museum’s 2015 Outlooks exhibition, Reconstructed Elements.Smokler explains that he is “always searching for new ways to invent and organize space” and this sculpture-created from found steel-shows his interest in line and abstract forms.

In the spring of 2016, the Museum’s Felch Terrace was also renovated in honor of long-time dedicated Museum supporter and Volunteer Judy McCabe. Funds raised supported the creation of the Julia “Judy” Merrick McCabe Garden in the Bernie Felch Sculpture Terrace, in the front of the Museum, next to the DuPont Auditorium entrance. The McCabe Garden integrates art into the natural environment and was designed by Rodney Robinson Landscape Architects, incorporating McCabe’s passion to create a “collaboration of art and flowers” in her life.

The final result includes plantings that complement the site-specific sculpture In the Park. Local artist Bernie Felch (1925-2008) was commissioned by the Museum to create this terracotta wall sculpture, which represents an abstraction of trees, for the Museum’s 1987 addition. The Garden now also features Scott Burton’s 1989 Bench and Table, a functional granite sculpture meant for people to touch and sit on. Visitors will also enjoy flowering bulbs in the spring and crepe myrtle in the summer, which will bloom in celebration of McCabe’s life.

Sponsors

Major funding for these projects has been provided by the Felch family, the Marmot Foundation, the Museum Council, and Stan Smokler. Additional support is provided by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com.

About the Delaware Art Museum

Founded in 1912, the Delaware Art Museum is best known for its large collection of works by Wilmington native Howard Pyle and fellow American illustrators, a major collection of British Pre-Raphaelite art, urban landscapes by John Sloan and his circle, and a survey of American art from early 19th century through the present. Visitors can also enjoy the outdoor Copeland Sculpture Garden and a number of special exhibitions throughout the year.